Joy Oladokun to Release New Album 'Observations From a Crowded Room'

Acclaimed singer, songwriter, producer and performer Joy Oladokun will release her anticipated new album, Observations From a Crowded Room, October 18 via Amigo Records/Verve Forecast/Republic Records (pre-order/pre-save here). In advance of the release, two new songs, “NO COUNTRY” and “I’D MISS THE BIRDS,” have debuted. 

Written, produced and largely performed by Oladokun alone, the album marks a personal and creative turning point for the Nashville-based artist and was crafted during a period of intense introspection and questioning. The 15-track collection—comprised of 12 songs and 3 spoken interludes—finds Oladokun reflecting on her place in the world, both as a person and an artist, while blending her pop-folk roots with electronic and psychedelic elements. Earlier this year, Oladokun shared two additional album tracks: “QUESTIONS, CHAOS & FAITH” and “DRUGS,” which received critical attention from The New York Times, Rolling Stone, OUT Magazine and more.

Reflecting on the project, Oladokun shares, “This album became a way for me to write things, feel things, process things. Because, as the producer, I just had to sit with these songs for so long. It became really healing in a sense of, ‘I made this. I’m listening to an album that I genuinely love. All the sounds and bits and bobs came from me with the help of just an engineer.’ It was transformative. So, it started out as, ‘I quit,’ and it has ended up as a fresh start.” 

The new music follows Oladokun’s recent rendition of Beyoncé’s “II Most Wanted” for Apple Music Sessions and the Jack Antonoff collaboration, “I Wished On The Moon,” featured on the official soundtrack for Apple TV+’s The New Look. Known for her powerful live performances, Oladokun will continue to tour through this fall including several dates with Hozier in Australia and New Zealand. See below for full details.

Since her breakthrough in 2020, Oladokun has released a pair of hugely acclaimed full-length albums—2021’s in defense of my own happiness and 2023’s Proof of Life—both of which landed on numerous best-of-the-year lists. Of Oladokun, The New York Times praises, “her songs are conversational and confessional, and her hooky but profound melodies turn her lyrics into mantras,” while Rolling Stone calls them, “Nashville’s most low-key musical revolutionary…in this time of shifting priorities away from work toward self-care and connection with others, Oladokun is offering a master class in those subjects” and NPR Music asserts, “She has a remarkable ability to distill how forces at work in the world…she can make even social and political protest feel like an intimate, warmly human act.”

Moreover, in the last few years, Oladokun—a proud queer Black person and daughter of Nigerian immigrants—has performed at the White House as part of the Respect for Marriage Act signing ceremony as well as on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” “CBS Saturday Morning,” “TODAY,” PBS’ “Austin City Limits and NPR Music’s “Tiny Desk (Home) Concert” series. Oladokun’s music has also been included in the Al Sharpton documentary, Loudmouth, CBS’ “CSI: Vegas,” NBC’s “This Is Us,” ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy,” ABC’s “Station 19,” NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” and HBO’s “And Just Like That,” while her song, “i see america,” was also selected as a finalist for the Recording Academy’s Special Merit Award, Best Song for Social Change. Widely respected by her peers, Oladokun has collaborated with artists such as Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris, Jason Isbell and Noah Kahan and has joined Morris, Isbell, Kahan, John Mayer, My Morning Jacket, Pink Sweat$, Leon Bridges and Manchester Orchestra on the road.

OBSERVATIONS FROM A CROWDED ROOM TRACK LIST

1. LETTER FROM A BLACKBIRD

2. AM I?

3. OBSERVATION #1

4. STRONG ONES

5. DRUGS

6. QUESTIONS, CHAOS & FAITH

7. NO COUNTRY

8. OBSERVATION #2

9. HOLLYWOOD

10. flowers

11. DUST/DIVINITY

12. GOOD ENOUGH

13. OBSERVATION #3

14. I’D MISS THE BIRDS

15. GOODBYE

JOY OLADOKUN CONFIRMED TOUR DATES

September 15—Asbury Park, NJ—Sea.Hear.Now Festival

September 21—Saratoga Springs, NY—Farm Aid

September 22—Richmond, VA—Iron Blossom Music Festival

September 28—Johannesburg, South Africa—Marabi Club

October 3—Cape Town, South Africa—Rocking the Daisies

November 5—Perth, Australia—RAC Arena*

November 6—Perth, Australia—RAC Arena*

November 8—Adelaide, Australia—Adelaide Entertainment Centre*

November 12—Melbourne, Australia—Sydney Myer Music Bowl*

November 13—Melbourne, Australia—Sydney Myer Music Bowl*

November 15—Sydney, Australia—Qudos Bank Arena*

November 18—Brisbane, Australia—Riverstage Brisbane*

November 20—Auckland, New Zealand—Spark Arena*

November 22—Christchurch, New Zealand—Wolfbrook Arena*

November 23—Christchurch, New Zealand—Wolfbrook Arena*

May 5-7—Miramar Beach, FL—Moon Crush: The Sea & ME

*with Hozier

Photo credit: Rachel Deeb

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